July 8, 2026

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Earthquake Creates Big Test for Venezuela’s New Government

(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela in late June, with the death toll reaching over 3,500 so far, as thousands of survivors find themselves suddenly displaced. Even amidst rescue efforts, the government has estimated that there could be up to 50,000 missing Venezuelans, with many trapped under the rubble. The respective 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes caused an estimated $6.7 billion in physical damage, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), not including infrastructure damage, wider economic disruptions, and reconstruction costs. Additionally, rescuers are fearful that they are running out of time to rescue any more survivors who may remain, as the country’s emergency response mechanisms and public health sector have been neglected for decades. The twin natural disasters have also further exacerbated the country’s economic crisis, impeding the country’s already-existing supply shortage of medicine, food, and basic services that has, according to the United Nations, imposed one of the largest displacement crises, with nearly 8 million Venezuelans having fled the country in the last decade alone.

As recovery efforts remain underway, it is clear that the response to the earthquakes has led to the outward dissatisfaction of the Venezuelan people with their government. Led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez — who took power after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in January — the government's response to the quakes has been slow and, in some areas, has even impeded rescue efforts by demanding bribes for access to areas and denying entry to international rescue teams. According to Foreign Policy, heavy machinery necessary to move concrete never arrived in certain areas, and firefighters lacked the tools and fuel necessary for rescue efforts. Additionally, the government gave little guidance to the population regarding rescue missions, did not open facilities for the collection of donated goods, and has no state-run missing-persons system. This has led NGOs and civil society actors to bear the brunt of the response.

The earthquakes have also sparked public debate about the extent of governmental services and oversight before the tragedy struck. This has been particularly the case surrounding the state of public housing complexes constructed by the Venezuelan government during the Hugo Chávez era that drew early criticism from residents, seismologists, and oversight groups about their safety in the face of a natural disaster. The New York Times interviewed several Venezuelans affected by the earthquakes, with one Venezuelan stating: “These people weren’t killed by the disaster. They were killed by the government because they built these buildings like garbage.”

In the aftermath of the earthquake, countries have rapidly deployed delegations of emergency responders to help Venezuela rescue and identify those under the rubble. Over 27 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Syria, Qatar, and other countries, have all sent search and rescue teams, along with medical specialists and equipment, with their respective foreign ministries announcing their presence in Venezuela to aid with search and rescue operations and clean-up efforts. The U.S.’ Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) also mobilized the Marine Corps and several naval assets to Venezuela to help the country restore its ports of entry, help with rescue operations, and deliver critical disaster relief supplies. These efforts collectively highlight the role that emergency response is playing in soft power efforts, particularly in an increasingly fragile Venezuela experiencing a vulnerable transition period following Maduro’s capture.

In addition to several delegations of foreign emergency response teams, Venezuela has also received batches of international financial assistance. The U.S. has contributed $310 million, with other pledges of $2.28 million from the Netherlands, $2.5 million from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and $114,000 from the Vatican. The imposition of several sanctions packages against the Venezuelan government has hampered efforts to send direct financial support to the transitional government, largely limiting countries to deploying material assistance and rescue teams. Notably — and even in light of major restrictions on aid agencies — the U.S. has pledged the largest package of aid to Venezuela, due to its guarantor role in Venezuela since Maduro’s ouster in January, and has sought to shape the response process, applying pressure on the new transitional government to swiftly enact rescue and recovery operations.

Still, the approach by foreign governments in the aftermath of the two earthquakes has been subject to widespread criticism. Many of the agencies within the Venezuelan government’s security landscape — designed to protect the Chávez and Maduro regimes, rather than protect the public — have been hampered in their response to the disaster. Before international delegations of first responders arrived in Venezuela, much of the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes involved civil defense workers working without proper gear and civilian volunteers organizing their own search-and-rescue operations, digging through the rubble themselves. Both civilians and humanitarian aid organizations have expressed concerns that the response process was not fast enough, resulting in further casualties from delayed rescue operations and halted services.

The imposition of sanctions against the Venezuelan government has also hampered the dissemination of direct aid. Many countries have pledged financial assistance to aid Venezuela’s recovery process through indirect channels, avoiding donating directly to the Venezuelan interim government, and instead directing funds through aid organizations working on the ground to disseminate supplies and services. Furthermore, the reduction of support for foreign aid agencies and programs, particularly from the current Trump administration in the U.S., has also restricted the scope of the international response.

The twin earthquakes have suffered the already-weakened, interim Venezuelan government another blow, raising questions about whether Venezuelan governance is truly on the brink. Expert Phil Gunson of the International Crisis Group put it plainly: the natural disaster has put Venezuela in a position where it is currently experiencing “the sustained collapse of a society.” A country already gripped by extreme economic crisis and shortages of critical supplies is now subject to further damage, degrading whatever remaining trust citizens had in the interim government. In the coming months, the country will require further supplies of basic needs like medicine, food, water, and fuel, along with an immense effort to rehouse and shelter thousands of victims displaced by the disaster. Furthermore, Venezuela’s de facto guarantor, the U.S., will also carefully observe the government’s next moves, particularly given Washington’s role in installing the Delcy transitional government after Maduro’s capture. The U.S. has demonstrated a high-risk tolerance in its approach in Venezuela, using military force to remove a head of state and unilaterally install its replacement, and does not want its efforts to be seen as a diplomatic blunder.